The cost to business of employees caring for their elderly relatives could be as much as 12 times what it will cost to bail out the financial institutions over the next 20 to 40 years.

This was the stark news delivered by Richard Worsley, director, The Tomorrow Project, to delegates at the CIPD conference during his Future of Work debate.

He said the impacts of having a lower birth rate, combined with people living longer, will also force employers to search beyond their normal pool of talent (the young), and cause them to look further afield.

"Employers will be forced to look at migrants, the elderly, the disabled and those who have previously been unable to work because of care or health issues."

He said it meant discrimination of all types will have to be rethought, but that age discrimination still remains "the deepest and most ingrained it has ever been".

Worsley warned failure to accept the role older people will need to play could result in business disaster.